CHLSS

  • Donate
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Adoption
    • Infant Adoption
    • A father and son created through foster care adoption embrace.Foster Care Adoption
    • Young girl from China smiles at the camera.International Adoption
    • A mother kisses her infant son's cheek.Waiting Children
    • Close
  • Foster Care
    • Three siblings in foster care smile in the part with their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders.Foster Care
    • An African American single woman wraps her arms around two brothers she adopted from foster care.Foster Care Adoption
    • Close
  • Pregnancy Services
    • Birth parents and adoptive parents smile with son.Open Adoption
    • Parenting
    • A father holds a football for his infant child.Birth Fathers
    • Happy woman and man waiting to adopt a child.Waiting Family Profiles
    • Close
  • Post Adoption Support
    • Documentation, Reports & Citizenship.Documentation, Reports & Citizenship
    • Search, Reunion & Openness Services
    • International Adoptee Travel SupportInternational Adoptee Travel
    • Support Groups & ResourcesSupport Groups & Resources
    • Close
  • Education & Events
    • An Ethiopian adoptee and her sister smile and hug.Education & Events Calendar
    • A woman attends a webinar.Recorded Webinars
    • Foster Care Adoption Education ClassesFoster Care Adoption Education Classes
    • Close
  • About Us
    • Mission & History
    • MN County Services
    • Leadership
    • Employment
    • Volunteer
    • Close
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Home / Blog / Today's Child and Family / Assembling the Puzzle Pieces of a Life

Assembling the Puzzle Pieces of a Life

October 16, 2020 by kristina berg

At 91, John Nightingale has few memories of his early life. Adopted at the age of three, he wonders about the circumstances surrounding his birth. Who were his parents? What circumstances led them to place him for adoption? John has always wanted to know what the name they had given him when he was born.

These are the missing pieces of an otherwise full and satisfying life for John, who has spent a lifetime putting together the puzzle of his life story. The missing pieces have haunted him.

What he does know is that he was born in December 1928 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His father left his mother shortly after John’s birth. Despite his mother’s best efforts to provide for her son, she eventually placed him for adoption with Catholic Charities when he was a year old.

“I believe she tried to be a good mother,” said John. “She kept me with her as long as she could.” He spent two years in an orphanage before being adopted by a loving family.

John knew he was adopted, but his adoptive mother didn’t talk about it beyond acknowledging it happened. Out of respect for her, he avoided asking questions.

a skater for life

As a teenager, John took up figure skating. His talent and passion landed him in the international spotlight at the World Figure Skating

Championship and the 1952 Oslo Olympics, where he and his skating partner, Janet Gerhauser, placed sixth.

John and his wife, Helen, also a competitive skater, married in 1952 and were together for 66 years until her death in 2019. They built a life around skating – competing, coaching and teaching – while raising three sons and traveling during John’s 20-year military career until he retired as a Lt. Colonel from the Army.

a longing that wouldn’t go away

When his mother died in 1973, he felt freed to pursue answers to his lingering questions about his birth. 

John’s adoption records had been sealed by the courts years ago. With determination and impressive detective skills, John uncovered some information and found his way to Children’s Home and social worker, Stacy Zignego. Her guidance enabled John to petition the county for his original birth certificate. He hoped it would reveal his birth name.

“I always wanted to know what my first first name was,” said John. “It’s the beginning of my story.”

Stacy located John’s birth certificate. It included his mother’s and father’s names. The place for the newborn’s name was filled in by hand: “Not named.” John turns melancholy when he describes how he felt upon seeing that. “I was disappointed.”

John’s baptismal record with the Catholic Church eventually revealed his birth name: John Robert. John was pleased to know his adopted family kept his first name. “Perhaps it was out of respect to my birth parents.”

Filling in the puzzle

Today, John lives outside St. Louis, Missouri, staying in touch with his sons, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He continues to focus on uncovering the early years of his life.

With information discovered through years of tenacious research, John’s puzzle is nearly complete. He is satisfied with what he now knows. “I didn’t want to leave this world without the information I have,” he said. “Stacy helping me do this has meant the world to me.”

 

 

Filed Under: News, Today's Child and Family

Meet Waiting Children

View Children

Help a Child Thrive

Contribute Today

Main Office

1605 Eustis Street
Saint Paul, MN 55108
651.646.7771
800.952.9302
[email protected]

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Subscribe to our newsletter. Stay Up To Date
Charities Review Council
Standards_Seal_BLACK_WEB
Charities Review Council Seal 2022
coa-logo
NCFA Member Seal_
IAAME
Human Rights Campaign seal

© 2025 Children's Home Society and Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. All Rights Reserved.

Terms & Conditions Privacy policy Developed by Vivid Image

This website uses cookies. By browsing this site you are agreeing to the use of cookies.OkayPrivacy Policy